


Badly Written Essays

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:53:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29104362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Blair is less than happy with the essays handed in by one class
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19
Collections: SenThurs.ambiguous





	Badly Written Essays

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt 'ambiguous'

Badly Written Essays

by Bluewolf

Blair was muttering something to himself as he graded the essays his Anthro 101 had handed in earlier that day. He had enjoyed dinner - Jim had made his absolutely brilliant spaghetti sauce, something he only did occasionally - oh, all his spaghetti sauce was good, but he had several different ones and this particular one was reserved for... some kind of occasion, though Blair just wasn't sure what it was. But he was in danger of developing serious indigestion as he worked his way through the essays.

As he listened to the subvocal muttering, even Jim couldn't quite make out what Blair was saying... and then he realized, Blair wasn't muttering in English, but in some language Jim didn't understand.

Tempted to ask what the problem was, Jim decided to say nothing. If Blair wanted to share whatever was clearly frustrating him, he was never averse to sharing it, even when Jim wasn't particularly interested. So it was probably a very minor problem.

Time passed; Blair continued grading, Jim switched off the TV - there was nothing particularly worth watching being shown that evening - stretched, yawned, went to the toilet, made his routine check to make sure the door was locked, everything was switched off (Blair might decide to make himself a mug of coffee later, but Jim thought he was too involved in what he was doing to bother), said, "Night, Chief," and headed for the stair. Blair glanced up from the essay he was reading, said, "Night," and turned his attention back to the book.

But Jim remained aware of the muttering and the sound of the pen on paper for another two hours, then of Blair making his own visit to the toilet, the soft sound of the downstairs bedroom door opening, the soft click of one light being switched off and another switched on, the almost inaudible rustle of clothes being removed and Blair getting into bed, the soft click of the bedroom light being switched off, and then, within a very few seconds, the steadier breathing of someone who had already fallen asleep. Moments later, Jim, too, was asleep.

***

Breakfast was its normal scrambled egg and toast, then both men headed out, Jim to the PD, Blair to Rainier. Blair knew he would be early, but there were so many things he could do once he was there...

Once ensconced in his little 'office' he set his alarm for five minutes before the first lecture he had to give, switched on his laptop, opened the file with an article he was writing and started working on it.

When the alarm rang, he muttered, "Damn!", spared a few seconds to make a couple of notes, saved the document, closed the laptop, scooped up his backpack and headed for the lecture room.

This was the class whose work had so irritated him the previous evening.

He went into the room and glanced around. There were still one or two students to appear, but he could make a start by handing out the graded essays.

Then he stood and watched as the students looked at their results.

The rest of the class hurried in - just on time, he noted - and he gave them their corrected essays as they passed him. Then he waited till they had looked at their grades, mentally toting the puzzled look on most of the faces.

"You will note," he said quietly, "that you have all been given two grade marks. There is, obviously, a reason for that. First of all - hands up anyone who is not taking English as part of their course."

All hands remained down, and he nodded. "That is what I thought. But to judge by certain aspects of the work in those essays, I had begun to suspect that I was wrong.

"Now, I have a question for you. Can anyone tell me the meaning of the word 'ambiguous'?"

Several hands went up. Two or three were quick and confident, the others were more tentative. And some of the students just looked at him with a slightly bewildered look on their faces. He looked at one whose response had been a little less than totally confident while being more positive than many. "Denny?"

"It's something where the meaning isn't clear."

"That's right. Now, the two grade marks I've given you. For the first, I ignored cosmetic mistakes and ambiguous wording and gave you a mark based on your understanding of the work. However, the second... That grade is determined by how easy I found it to understand your essays. And in more cases than I'm comfortable with, I found ambiguous statements. And why were they ambiguous? In some cases they lacked proper punctuation, in some they were badly worded.

"There are a few classic examples you'll find in any good grammar book - 'She washed the dog wearing a pink dress' - anyone would be entitled to think the dog was wearing the dress. 'After the lion caught the antelope it died' - is 'it' the lion or the antelope? Logic says it's the antelope, but who's to say the lion didn't have a heart attack and collapsed? So you want to think about the way you word something.

"I know some of you have no interest in an academic career, that you're taking certain subjects purely to meet the academic requirements of the university. I know that four of you are in Rainier's football team and two are in the basketball team; I know all six of you are on a sports scholarship and hope for a future as a professional sportsman, and I wish you luck with that. But an injury early in your career could throw you out of the game, make it impossible for you to continue playing. Do any of the six of you know the name 'Earl Gaines'?"

Three hands went up. "Right," Blair said. "He had a very promising career in front of him when he injured his knee. It isn't a handicap in his everyday life, he can even run for a fair distance - but there's no way it would last the demands of a full game. He ended up joining Cascade Police. So nobody, however talented he might be, can guarantee a career in sport. And if he's injured, or gets too old to play - he could still be a long way from retirement age. So even guys like you six - at some point you'll be looking for a new, non-sporting career. Oh, you might be able to join a club as a coach or even a manager - but there are more ex-players looking for jobs like that than there are jobs. And that's one reason why the university expects you to take some academic subjects - it gives you something to fall back on.

"And the same with all of you. The CEO of a company will look at the letter of application and if it has silly mistakes, or is worded ambiguously, he'll automatically dump it in the trash.

"So all of you - look carefully at the second mark I've given you. And I'd seriously suggest that if it's less than C - or even if it is a C - you go to whoever is teaching you English, and ask for some help. Especially in punctuation. If necessary let him, or her, read the essay. I've marked all the places I found wrong or difficult to understand."

Blair took a deep breath. "Now - back to anthropology. I was happy with the understanding you all showed of the subject, even when I wasn't happy with your presentation of it. So today I want to hear you discussing the theme of farming as opposed to hunting and gathering... "


End file.
